Loving the past
by ginnys01
Summary: Hermione ends up in the past. Does she really need to fall in love with Voldemort?


**a/n: Thanks to my fellow Puddlemere United team member falling winter roses for beta-ing.**

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_**seeker, qlfc forum, puddlemere united**_

_**season seven, round six**_

_**main prompt: Star-Crossed Lovers: Write about a romance that's doomed to fail.**_

**word count: 1482**

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I wake up in a dorm that looks pretty similar to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, with five beds all in different variations of green. Mine is a shade of bluish green that is, surprisingly, pleasing to the eyes. There's a trunk next to my bed, and I open it to find it filled with a mix of Hogwarts robes and everyday clothes. The Hogwarts robes are lined in green and silver with a Slytherin badge on them while the other clothes are in an old-fashioned sort of style. I stared at the Slytherin badge. What had happened? I'm in _Gryffindor,_ not Slytherin. Those two houses are polar opposites. How had I gotten here? I'm pretty sure I'm in a Slytherin dorm, but I know nothing else.

I dress and head down the stairs into the common room. There's a group of girls sitting around the fire. When they see me, they smile politely and stand.

"Morning Laura, slept well?"

_Laura?_ My name is Hermione, not _Laura_. Instead of protesting, I find myself nodding anyway, not sure what's going on.

Without thinking, I say, "I'm going to the library. I need to look something up." The girls give me a strange look, so I suppose Laura doesn't use the library on random mornings, but I leave before any of them can comment.

On the way to the library, I dart into a girl's bathroom and rush to the mirror and gasp at the sight of myself.

I'm not me. The face staring back at me is not my own, and instead it's the pale face of a girl with stick-straight white blonde hair and piercing green eyes.

I brace myself on the counter, breathing hard. _Merlin…_ what in the world is going on?

After a few moments, I take a deep breath and leave the bathroom. The library. The library will help me figure out what's going on and how I'm going to fix it.

The hallways are deathly quiet as I make my way up to the library. When I step in, I notice that the usual Ravenclaws doing homework in the early mornings aren't there. At least the library is the same, I think to myself. It is a comforting realization.

I start with the newspaper section, hoping that it's up to date, but I soon find that the most recent newspapers are from the 1st of September, 1943. Strange… Madam Pince always keeps the newspaper section up to date. Perhaps some student had to use the other newspapers, or perhaps Madam Pince had simply moved them… I quickly skim the front page of one the most recent _Daily Prophet_, but there's nothing there to tell me what exactly has happened.

I'm about to put down the daily prophet when a voice sounds from behind me.

"Miss Fowler, what are you doing in the library on the second day of term? The first class hasn't even started yet."

I spin around, the Prophet fluttering to the floor. The boy, with a prefect badge pinned to his chest, stands leaning against the shelf with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. There are green and silver trimmings on his robes, so whoever I seem to be impersonating is most likely familiar with this handsome Slytherin.

For once I'm totally unsure of what to do, but he doesn't seem to notice my confusion as he looks up and down my robes. "Where is your perfect badge? You do know we are supposed to wear it at all times when at school."

Before I can react he grasps my hand and gestures to the doorway. "I'll come with you back to the common room. Come on."

I don't protest and walk with him out of the library and down the dark passageways leading to the Slytherin common room. I have no idea what to say. I don't even know his name, and I'd only just found out that my name is supposed to be Laura Fowler.

Luckily for me and my increasingly confused brain he keeps up the chat for the whole way to the common room.

As we enter the common room, the girls once again immediately turn towards me. "Managed to drag her out of the library, Tom?" The boy next to me nodded.

"We came back for her perfect badge. How _she _ever became prefect i don't know," he laughed.

As I search for the prefect badge alone in our dormitory, I slowly connect the puzzle pieces and realize where I am — or rather _when_ I am. Somehow, I've time traveled back to the second day of term in 1943, taking the body of a girl named Laura Fowler. The newspaper section is up to date. Only the date is different, and… and how had this even happened? Last thing I remember, I'd been in the Gryffindor girls' bathroom… and… _and…_

And I can't remember.

"_Damn it!"_ I curse. The fear that hadn't appeared at first when I woke up begins to form, and I sink onto my bed — no, no, no, _Laura's_ bed — and I close my eyes. _Calm down, Hermione,_ I tell myself. _You can figure this out now. Don't. Panic._

I take another deep breath and stand. As I do so, I see a flash of metal and realize it's my — _Laura's_ — badge and pin it on.

I peek out the door before heading down the stairs, hoping that the group in the common room will be too involved in their own conversation to notice me. No such luck. Tom is standing at the door waiting for me and as soon as he sees me, he whisks me away.

"See you later, Mr. Riddle," one of the girls giggles as we turn down the corridor.

I'm not sure where he's heading, but I am sure that I am most definitely uncomfortable as his arm links through mine. This feels… wrong. He's undeniably handsome and kind, but his presence makes the hairs on my arms stand on end.

_Mr. Riddle…_

And then I realized: _Tom._ The charismatic boy with dark brown hair that I had walked down to the common room with was Tom Riddle.

Oh _Merlin._ If he knew what I am, who I am, when I'm from…

I have to get out of here. But there doesn't seem to be a way to, and honestly? I'm curious to see what's going to happen. After all, I'm protected by the face of this popular Slytherin girl with a large group of friends and a connection with one of the most popular boys in school.

As soon as we walk through the front door I begin to shiver. After all, it _is_ Hogwarts and it _is_ September. Tom notices and immediately unclasps his robes and drapes them around my shoulders. It's not long before we get to the lake. _Ah._

He begins to chat with me, and rather awkwardly, we make conversation. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to get out of this conversation, so I just go along with it, my thoughts racing.

By the time we had walked around the lake once, all of my troubles are forgotten and I'm laughing along with him as if we have been friends for all our lives. I'm starting to understand why he'd managed to gain so many followers, especially in the female population.

And honestly? I'm starting to fall for him. I try telling myself that I can't be, I know what he will become, but I can't help it. He's just so charming…

It's not until we stop under a tree and sit down that I realise that this might be more than just two friends walking. My suspicion comes a moment too late, as before I can react, Tom leans in and kisses me. I want to pull away, I really do, but I _can't_.

_No, no, no!_ I scream at myself. This is wrong. This is undeniably _wrong._

But it feels… perfect. I'm shocked at myself, _disgusted_ even, but I… I like it. Maybe I even love it.

When Tom breaks the kiss, I'm speechless. At him, at my actions, at myself.

What has happened to me? I'm in 1943, impersonating a girl named Laura Fowler, and somehow… _somehow…_ I fell for Tom Riddle. I fell for him so hard that now, I can't do anything but sit there like the lovesick teenager I have suddenly become.

Luckily for me, Tom doesn't seem to mind. He simply grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me against him as we sit together, leaning against the tree. Both of us are happy to just sit there in the sun enjoying the moment. Slowly I feel my eyes become heavy. My last thought before dropping off is that I've fallen for my best friend's enemy, who doesn't even know me.


End file.
